Raised By Gothel
by abetternameneeded
Summary: "Imagine if Gothel raised Alice"(-Stacey Dawe) and I did. Alice has a less than happy childhood, Robin helps her with it.


**A/N: Stacey Dawe said "imagine if gothel raised Alice." and so I did. This story got dark. **

Captain Hook bid the maiden he had spent an evening with a farewell. He had retrived the flower she needed and she had repaid him for his service, in a way. A way that suited the pirate quite well indeed.

"Thanks for your help, Captain. Safe travels," she told him. And with that the pirate captain was gone. Unaware of the grave mistake he had just made. Unaware of the newborn he had just condemned to a fate even he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy. The enemy that would nearly deserve this fate.

The maiden ditched the blonde disguise in favor of one with braided hair. She was not at all who she had said she was. She was a witch or a nymph or maybe both. And now she had what she needed. Exactly what she needed. A baby. It had taken a few tries. Luring men up to her tower but none had been quite as helpful as the famed Captain Hook when he was desperate for his revenge. Revenge the witch was certain he would never get. She would ensure he didn't. He was simply a pawn in her game as much as this child was.

The baby would grant her her freedom. She was from her bloodline. But the kid had to be alive when Gothel left. As much as Gothel wished she could just kill her and be done with the entire mess, she needed her alive. And she had her suspicions of the child's powers. So she'd raise her as if she were her own. And she was. But neither of them had to enjoy it, now did they?

Gothel left the tower for some much desired fresh air and ignored the child's cries. She'd deal with her later. The newborn cried until it was clear no one was going to come to her aid. Gothel returned and reluctantly fed the child. The girl did her no good dead. The baby began to cry again later.

"Be quiet!" Gothel snapped at her. She would raise the child until she could survive mostly on her own. But she would see how far she could push her. She might be the guardian. Gothel would push her until she knew if she was or not. The true guardian would be able to withstand torture without becoming evil. And so that would be the girl's childhood. It would be one filled with misery and an abscence of love. She would be trapped. Yelled at for the smallest of things. Made to believe that she was just a tool for Gothel to use. Gothel had ideas for how to test if this baby would truly become the guardian. She would know that Gothel didn't care for her, just had her uses for her. Her first step, the baby never received a name. Not that she needed it where they were.

The years where the baby needed to be fed every few hours took their toll on both of them. The baby constantly crying, Gothel yelling at her to get her to stop. She provided her with no comfort and refused to hold her except to move her out of the way of the potions or plants Gothel was tending to. And the more the child grew, the worse it got.

"Be quiet!" Gothel yelled at the toddler. She had finally reached an age where she had started to attempt to mimic the sounds she'd heard Gothel say. And would crawl around. "I don't want to hear it. Just behave. Be quiet. And sit still." This was a hard ask from a toddler that already lived in a very small space. But she listened. Or tried to. It really was hard to stay still for a child so young. But gothel was persitent and eventually the toddler spent more time still than moving. She moved when she had to but mostly sat with her thoughts. Her mind would run away from her and she'd get lost in her own head. She couldn't move around much in the real world so she did so in her thoughts. She knew it wasn't real, and would never admit that's what she was doing but it helped.

The little girl took the harsh words to heart and stopped talking almost completly. Sometimes she'd get excited and try to show or tell Gothel something but it never worked. Eventually she stopped speaking unless Gothel spoke to her. And even then she faded into speaking quietly, often scared by the sound of her own voice.

The girl sat on the windowsill staring at the near empty room. She wasn't allowed to do almost anything. The room was small and Gothel didn't want to share the space with the small child. She knew this. She was here simply so mother didn't have to be.

She knew how to walk but only because if she didn't then Gothel would have to move her around the tower to keep her out of the way , and she wanted little to do with the child except to use her for her own gain. But Gothel was strict and would yell if she walked aroudn too often. So most of the time she sat ither on the windowsill or in a hidden corner of them room that was tucked behind a piece of furniture. She could sit there and not even be seen by Gothel. And as long as she was quiet she could sit there alone with her thoughts for hours unless Gothel needed her to do something. Eventually Gothel became more strict about when and where the child was allowed to move.

The child aged. A quiet shell of what a child should be. She tried to stay out of Gothel's way as much as possible but their shared living space was much too small for that sometimes. The older she got the more Gothel tested the girl. Yelling at her for things she didn't do. Yelling at her for doing more than she should have. Making the rules change from time to time just to make her feel like the world didn't make much sense. Gothel was manpulative and had centuries of practice and had had this plan for a while. The child didn't stand a chance against the witch's tactics. Unless she really was the guardian. And if she wasn't? Well she was only a means to an end, anyway. So who cared if she didn't survive into her adulthood? Gothel certainly didn't.

"I'm going out," Gothel barked at her. Gothel didn't care if the child knew or not, she was just in her way.

"Ok." the response came as a whisper. She wanted to go with her. She was scary but she wanted to go outside. See where mother went without her. "Can I..." she didn't finish the sentence. She was scared. Of Gothel. Of everything outside of the window. Of her own shadow, honestly.

"Can you what, girl? Speak up." The girl didn't know what to do, sometimes the woman she lived with wanted her to be silent and sometimes she demanded she speak her mind. It was confusing. Neither one ever felt entirely right. But right now she was being told to speak, so she would speak.

"Can...I...go...with...you," the words shook out in a tone that was barely above a whisper, her eyes darting towards to ground instead of looking at the woman. She couldn't remeber when she wasn't scared to speak.

"Of course not! You stay here. The kitchen's a mess, handle that."

"Yes, mother," the girl told her, jumping off of the windowsill.

"Do not jump! How many times do I have to tell you? Behave. Be calm. Stop running. It is not difficult."

When she was younger she might have tried to argue. But it wasn't worth it. It only ever ended in Gothel yelling at her, or worse. She was simply a tool for her mother's plans. Whatever they were. So she nodded. Was she allowed to do anything at all? She was allowed to clean and eat and sleep and breathe; although, her mother didn't like when she breathed loudly.

Once Gothel was out of the line of her sight she went into the kitchen and started trying to put things away. She cleaned the kitchen then sat on the floor. She was tired. But her thoughts weren't fully holding her attention. She never did much of anything even when her mother was around. What was she supposed to do now? She wasn't supposed to move unless mother told her she could. Would she mind if she cleaned the rest of the tower? Surely not?

So she began tidying up the rest of the room. She really wasn't supposed to move around witout permission but there was nothing else to do. And surely mother wouldn't mind coming home to a clean tower. Would she?

She was pulling the sheets up on the bed when Gothel reentered the tower. She was too exhausted to think clearly.

"What are you doing?" she sneered over at her.

The girl was quiet. Was she angry at her? What had she done this time? She was just trying to help.

"I told you to clean the kitchen, so what are you doing?" she glanced at Gothel. She just wanted to help. And she wasn't allowed to do anything else.

"I...finished...so," she cut off her attempt at a defenste. It wouldn't work. "I...I'm sorry."

"As you should be. You _know_ the rules. You are only allowed to move when I tell you to. Go. Now. Get out of my sight." Gothel waved her hands to shoo her away. The girl glanced around the room for a moment and found a small corner where she could hide behind a piece of furniture. It was the only place she could be out of Gothel's sight. It was one of the only two places she felt comfortable. Here and on the windowsill. She sat down and stared at the wall. She tried to count the stones but could only get so far. At one point Gothel had bothered to teach her a few things, she could count maybe up to twenty and could do basic math for cooking and helping Gothel but beyond that she knew very little. She knew that she was to fufill some kind of prophecy, although Gothel had only yelled when she'd asked more questions; and that she was only alive because the spell on the tower wouldn't allow Gothel to kill her. Gothel never let her forget she was only wanted as a part of a plan. It hurt. But it was all she had known. She let herself get lost in her thoughts where she could imagne herself running and moving as much as she wanted to. Not being stuck being as still and quiet as possible with mother telling her when she could and couldn't move around. She fell asleep while lost in her thoughts. She had moved around more than normal and tired herself out.

She awoke to a crash of some kind coming from the outside of her hiding spot.

"You can come out now, if you want to."

She didn't want to. She had just woken up; but despite what it sounded like, it hadn't been a reuqest. And ignoring an order wouldn't end well for her.

"Go clean the kitchen again. I made a _bit_ of a mess," Gothel sneered. "If you want to clean so badly, get to it."

She glanced over into the kitchen. It was a disaster. Broken glass laid scattered on the floor and the counter. Various bits of liquid dripped off onto the floor. Gothel had made the mess, and she had made it a big one.

"Yes, mother."

And she got to work cleaning the mess.

Gothel sat down and watched her clean. "It wouldn't be like this if you'd just listen to me. All you had to do was clean where I asked you to. Why don't you? You could try a little harder."

Was she really upset about her cleaning up the rest of the tower? It wasn't like she had anything else to do. The tower was small and she had never so much as stepped outside of it. All she ever did was clean, sleep, eat, breathe and worry. And get lost in her thoughts. She was barely allowed to speak! Or move! And sometimes watch outside the window. She worried about how mother would react to how she did everything. She tried to find the good in it. She could move around a bit more freely when mother was out of the tower. But her movement bothered the witch and so she stayed as still as possible. And if she got caught? Mother would find a way to punish her for it.

She'd already apologized but it didn't hurt to offer another one.

"Sorry," her voice was hoarse and shaky. She didn't use it anywhere near enough.

"Okay, I guess that's good enough for me. Finish this, eat your dinner, and then you can go to bed. Do not wake me."

She had no intentions of doing the latter. She finished cleaning and ate then went to bed as quietly as she could.

She woke up the next morning to the sounds of mother knocking things over. Was she still mad at her? She walked over to her to see what was going on but kept her distance. She didn't like standing too close to an angry gothel. Although when was she not angry at her?

"Spell wouldn't work the way I wanted." Gothel explained noticing a greater level of fear than normal present in the girl's face. "For once, it's not your fault. Although your snoring certainly didn't help any."

She nodded and stepped around the woman and began to pick up the broken pieces of the vial.

"I've got it this time." Gothel told her roughly pushing her hand away from the broken glass. "Also, did I tell you you could move?"

"Sorry." She froze as she said it. It was hard sometimes to not reach over and try to clean. It was one of the few things she was allowed to do.

"Go sit down somewhere" Gothel gave her permisson for her to walk away.

She nodded. She stuttered out a quiet thank you as she walked over to the windowsill and gently pulled herself up. This was the closest thing she had to fun. She didn't really understand the concept of playing and as far as she knew this was how everyone's life was. She watched the clouds and got lost thinking about what it would be like to run far away from here. She never would. She knew she couldn't. But she could think about it, mother would never have to know.

"So that's cleaned," Gothel announced. "I have some potions to make. Stay out of my way."

She nodded and kept looking out the window. She didn't like when mother made potions. The potions took Gothel a long time to make. And she'd forget that she was waiting for her permission to move again. So she'd wind up sitting in one place for even longer than she normally would. And Gothel wouldn't even think to give her anything to do.

It had been more than a few hours. And she really did need to use the bathroom. She hated talking but she would get in far more trouble if she got up without asking. And she was far too tired to do anything.

"Mother," she choked out. It was quiet but their living space was small.

"What?"

"Can...I?"

"Louder, I can't hear you." The tone was sharp enough to scare her. But she needed to ask this one.

"Ineedtogotothebathroom," she rushed her words together to shorten the amount of time she had to speak.

"Fine. Go. And so you don't bother me again: when you finish you can go back to sitting wherever you want to." She really only had two places she cared to sit down in. She went to the bathroom then returned to the windowsill and continued watching outside and getting lost in her thoughts.

Eventually Gothel finished her potions and permitted the child to move away from the window in order to eat. And this routine was repeated over time. Slowly, the girl becoming more and more saddened by the fact she wasn't truly wanted. And was trapped in more ways than the literal magic trapping her inside the tower.

Gothel was furious. She had been treating the girl in ways that woould make an adult at least twice her age miserable for years. The girl should be broken far beyond what she was by now. There had to be more ways to test her. She needed to go to town to see if there were. This shell of a child couldn't possibly be the guardian.

"I'm going out again," she told her. That was enough permission for her to move. "No you can't come with me. And everything is cleaned so just pick somewhere to sit and stay there."

The girl nodded and gently got up from the windowsill. She didn't expect any praise but at least she'd avoided mother's anger at her doing it not gently. She went over to the corner she liked to sit in and got comfortable. And then she let her thoughts seep in. She wanted to move around. But gothel wasn't here. So she couldn't ask. And she'd told her to stay put. But she'd just left, she'd never know. And so she stood up, terrafied. She knew this was wrong. She wasn't supposed to do this. But she wanted to. And as long as mother never found out? She walked across the room, slowly. She had never walked the entire length of the tower. It was bigger than she'd expected. She tried to run across it. She didn't know how to move as fast as she could in her mind. She hit a loose stone and tripped. She let out the slighest whimper of pain as she fell on her wrist. She'd have to hide this somehow.

"Are you okay?" she heard a voice. Was mother back this soon? Oh she was in so much trouble. She had broken every rule there was, nearly.

"Sorry," she whispered.

"Sorry? For what? I'm in your house. Or tower. Do you live here? If you do, you can do whatever the hell you feel like in it."

She glanced over to where the voice was coming from. It was another person. What was she supposed to do? It wasn't mother.

"I mean you no harm. I just got in a bit of a scrape with a sherriff who doesn't like me because of who my father was. I'm Robin, although people do call be Robin Hood quite a bit."

She glanced at the girl that was perched on her windowsill. "Come here, I can help you if you hurt yourself with that fall."

She shook her head violently. She was going to be in so much trouble already.

"Please, go." the fear in the girl's voice made Robin worry for her. She'd come back later.

"I didn't quite catch your name so see you around, tower girl."

She shook once the stranger had left the tower. She had broken so many rules and had almost gotten caught. Had gotten caught. Luckily not by someone that knew anything about her. But why had that girl talked so much? Wouldn't her mother be angry with her? She hoped she hadn't gotten the stranger into too much trouble.

Robin was worried for the girl she'd just met. She seemed so scared in her home and not in a way that seemed it was entierly from Robin breaking into her room.

She sat in a bush with her bow slung over her shoulder and watched. She saw a woman with braids climb up and into the tower. And she listened. She shouldn't have been able to hear the conversation but the woman was loud. She heard the yelling and felt awful. She didn't know what the girl in the tower was in toruble for but Robin thought that she might be responsible for it.

She vowed to return to try and find out more about the girl.

And so she did. She waited until she saw the braided haired woman leave before making her next acsent.

"Hey there, tower girl," Robin told her, as she swung her legs over the windowsill. "I can't keep calling you that. But who's that woman that just left?"

The girl stared at her wide-eyed.

Was she speaking to her? Did she actually want her to speak? She was sitting in the spot mother told her she could sit in. She was in her way. She glanced at the windowsill and back at the girl.

"Am I in your seat? I'll move if you want." Robin jumped off the windowsill and gestured for the girl to take her seat. "it's your house. You can tell me to move. So who is that woman?" she got onto the windowsill. She felt a little better knowing she was were she was allowed to be.

"M...mother," she stumbled over the words. This girl was very strange.

"Wow, she seems like a bit much. Not sure I could handle living with her. Especially in this small space. You got a bathroom I can use?"

She nodded and pointed towards it, unsure how to react. Robin came back and glanced at the girl. "You don't talk much do you?"

She shook her head.

"That's fine, I can talk enough for the both of us. And if you don't want to talk I can always just ask yes or no questions."

Robin spoke to her for a little while and then decided she should leave before the woman that had yelled so loudly got back. "Have a nice day, I'll see you around."

And she left. She ducked into a bush to watch to see how long it took the woman to get back. Robin kept coming back and watching the tower. Staying hidden and listening to what she heard of the conversations from the two. They seemed very one sided but Robin realized the blonde's voice was quiet even when she had spoken directly to her. At first she worried she had gotten her in trouble but soon realized even on days she didn't go into the tower the older woman spent half the day yelling at the girl. Whenever the woman would leave Robin would sneak in. She noticed the girl only ever seemed to be in two spots when she came in. Either hidden in a corner or sitting on the windowsill. And she always looked terrafied whenever Robin suggested they move to a different spot in the tower.

One day she was sitting behind the bush and heard words that pained her yelled. "You know the rules! You only move if I tell you you can! Go! Now!"

It was loud and the gravity of the words hit Robin in a way she couldn't imagine. Today was a day the woman was supposed to leave. And she did. She hoped she'd be gone for a while. And she knew she would. Once she was gone she climbed up the tower.

"Hey, tower girl, you in here?"

Robin walked around the tower looking for her. She found her sitting in her usual corner behind a piece of furniture, rubbing her hand along the stone tiles of the wall, tears in her eyes.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

She nodded her head. "Does your mother always act like that?" Robin knew she did, she'd heard her yell every time she was near. And she knew the girl couldn't possibly being doing enough to deserve the amount and severity of some of the things she'd heard her mother say to her.

Another nod. "Hey, tell me what your life's like. If you can."

Speaking still scared her but she'd slowly started to trust this girl. She came by every time mother was gone and not once had they gotten caught. But it would take too many words.

"You don't like talking much do you?"

She shook her head. "Okay how about this. yes or no questions, yeah?"

She nodded. "Are you allowed to speak?"

She nodded. Then shrugged. "Quiet," she whispered. One worded sentences weren't so bad. They were done as soon as they started. And didn't take up too much time or space. But she still tried to avoid them most of the time.

"Your mother wants you to be quiet?" Robin questioned. She nodded. Okay so she just didn't like speaking. That was fine.

Robin went through a list of basic things, feeling a bit less worried and then she got to the one she feared the answer to.

"Okay, are you allowed to move?" Robin feared the answer.

Alice shook her head. "Ask."

"You have to ask first?"

She nodded her head. "Permission"

"So either you ask or your mother tells you, is that what you're saying."

She nodded. Robin wanted to hunt the woman down and yell at her for the way she was treating this girl her own age but she couldn't.

"So, would my permission work?"

She shook her head violentally. She wasn't mother. She couldn't know what mother wanted her to do. She had to stay right here.

"Okay. Okay. That's fine. We can sit right here. What is your name?"

"What?"

"your name. Like what your mother calls you? Mine's Robin."

She was confused. "Your mother never gave you a name. Can I?" She nodded.

Robin pulled a book out of her backpack. "Alice in Wonderland, it's my favorite. And you do kind of look like her. Do you like that name? Alice?"

She nodded. "Okay, I'll call you Alice. And Alice, I should get going before she gets back." Alice nodded her agreement.

And Robin left. Ducking behind a bush and watching as the witch went in. It hurt to hear her yell at Alice. Robin had been with her the whole she had been gone. She knew Alice had followed every dumb rule her mother had for her. Well except maybe one. She was sure her mother didn't want Robin in their home.

Robin went back home and walked in.

"How was your day, sweetheart?" her mom asked her.

"Good. Nottingham seems to be leaving me mostly alone lately."

Robin couldn't stop thinking of Alice stuck in that tower. Stuck with someone that didn't even let her move around freely. And from the way Alice spoke, she wasn't sure she was even actually allowed to speak as much as she spoke around Robin. But she had said she was. It was hard to understand her. Their communication was based off of one worded sentences and body languge.

"You can come out," Gothel told her. Alice moved out of the spot she'd been sitting. "Here put this stuff away, I want to go to bed."

Gothel set stuff on the counter in the kitchen and Alice put everything away. Gothel fell alseep before she finished. And so she laid down on the floor and slept there.

A week later Gothel decided to leave earlier than normal, after Alice had fallen asleep after tiring herself out cleaning in the kitchen. But Robin still managed to see her leave. Robin climbed into the tower and didn't see Alice in either of her usual spots.

"Alice?"

Robin walked around the tower and tripped over her sleeping form behind the kitchen counter.

"Sorry," Robin told her.

Alice shook her head. "Sorry,"

"I kicked you. You are not the one that owes anyone an apology."

Alice stayed silent. Apologies never hurt anyone. "This is a different spot."

Robin noticed that her mother had left earlier. Did Alice always sleep on the floor? Alice nodded. "Did you sleep in your kitchen floor?"

Alice nodded. "You sure I can't give you permission to move?"

Alice nodded. "Okay, fine. We can sit in your kitchen. But she wouldn't have to know," Robin told her. "But if you're not comfortable with that. I brought us a game. Also do you always sleep on the floor?"

Alice nodded. Not this part of the floor, but the one in the corner behind furniture. She'd spent enough time around Robin that she had gotten more comfortable speaking to her but it was a fight between that and the fact she only saw Robin once a week and saw her mother often enough to be scared of her own words. "Tired."

"Why did you get tired enough to fall alseep in your kitchen?"

Alice looked at her. She couldn't answer that one as easily.

"Sorry, that one isn't so easy to answer, is it?"

Alice shook her head. Robin began to teach her how to play a game. It was a simple one and Alice caught on quickly. And it dind't require her moving from the spot she was sitting in. The game seemed to calm Alice down, or at least distract her from the things she feared.

"Cleaning."

"Oh you were cleaning your kitchen, then got tired. And you were asleep when your mother left and since she has that rule about you moving around without her permisson we're sitting in your kitchen? Did I get everything"

Alice nodded. "And you won the game. Good job!" Robin's loud voice frightened Alice and she fliched away.

Robin held in the words she wanted to say. That vile woman had most defintley hit the girl at least once, and judging by that reaction more often than she cared to find out about.

"Good?" Alice asked her. She didn't know what that one meant, really.

"Yeah, good. As in not bad. Your mother never tells you you're doing good does she?" Robin asked, feeling for the girl.

Alice shook her head. Did Robin's mother? "Well, you did good at the game. Do you want to play it again?" Alice shook her head. It wasn't bad but she didn't like the noise Robin made at the end of it. It was scary.

"Okay, we can just talk. They sat and Robin started to tell Alice random things until it was time for Robin to go. She gathered her things and started to walk away.

"I'll see you later, Alice." Alice nodded. Robin knew she wouldn't get much more out of the girl.

Robin went home.

"Mom!" she yelled as she ran into their house. "I have a problem."

"Is it Nottigham again? Thought he was leaving you alone."

"He is. No. I've made a friend. Kind of."

"That's great, Robin. Why is that a problem?"

"Her mother is really bad to her, mom Like really bad."

"This is not like Storybrooke, Robin. Things are done a bit differently here."

"No, mom. It's not like that. Even by the enchanted forest' standards. It's bad. She's not allowed to move without having permission. She barely speaks. I've been going to see her once a week for months and she...she's always so scared to do anyhthing."

"Back up, that first thing again?"

"She doesn't speak enough for me to know exactly but the first day I met her I was sitting on her windowsill and I think that must have been where her mother asked her to stay because she seemed terrafied to not be sitting in it. And I asked her eventually and apparently she has to have permission to move. She just sits in one spot until her mother tells her she's allowed to move. This morning she sat in the floor the entire time I was there just because her mother was gone before she woke up. I don't even think she's allowed to go to the bathroom without permission."

"Robin, did you break into this girl's house?"

"it's not a house, it's a tower. And she hasn't asked me to leave again. Mom, we have to help her."

Zelena nodded. "That poor girl. We will. Let me ask Regina and Henry for some help. What's her name?"

"She didn't have one so I asked her if I could name her...I call her Alice."

Zelena nodded. The next week Robin had her bow slung over her shoulder.

"Are you going to see Alice?" Zelena asked.

Robin nodded. "Yeah. I think I scared her last week with one game so I'm going to take some cards and try that instead. She'll talk in one worded sentences sometimes so maybe we can play go fish? She doesn't have to say it all."

Zelena nodded "Please be careful. We don't know enough about her mother and clearly she isn't a kind woman."

Robin nodded. "Okay, how close are you and aunt regina with a plan?"

"We're working on it, Robin."

Robin made her trek to the castle and hid in the bushes. She waited until she saw Gothel leave then climbed into the tower.

"Hey, Alice." Alice was sitting on the window sill.

"Hey," Alice whispered. Robin wanted to cheer but knew the loud noise would only scare her. Alice had greeted her with actual words. Well, one word but it was more than she normally gave her as a greeting.

"Good job," Robin whispered, calmly. "I brought us cards to play with." Robin told her showing her the deck. And she explained go fish to her. Two words?

Alice shook her head. "You can just say one word. Or just however it works for you. Just shake your head or nod, if that works." Robin knew she couldn't push Alice she was still in a situation where talking and moving got her into trouble. Alice nodded. And they played the game. Alice enjoyed this one. It was easy enough once she learned how to do it and and Robin hadn't yelled at the end like with the last one.

"Want to play again?" Robin offered. Alice nodded.

And they played a few rounds with Robin talking to Alice. Hoping she could get Alice to at least say something. Occasiaonnly she'd get Alice to say a word or two but theri conversations tended to drift towards being one sided. She left for the day and told Alice she'd be back.

"Good," Robin encouraged as Alice attempted to shuffle the cards. Robin had brought them again and had shown Alice how to do this. They were sitting on the windowsill this tim.e It wasn't perfect. But she was trying. And then she dropped them. They fell onto the stone floor and Alice glanced at them. She reached over to grab them but couldn't do it without getting up.

"Sorry." Alice told her. That was one the few words Alice spoke and it hurt Robin that she said it as often as she did.

"I'll get them, Alice," Robin told her and got up and gathered the cards, handing them back to Alice to let her try again.

Alice shook her head. She was bad at that.

"It's okay, Alice. You're learning. It's okay. Look, I'll sit right here, that way if they fall it's not a problem. Is that okay?" Alice shook her head. She'd just drop them and she wasn't supposed to drop things. And they were sitting somewhere she wouldn't be able to help Robin pick it up.

"Okay, I can shuffle them." And they played a few rounds of go fish.

"Why don't you leave, Alice? Your mother isn't nice to you." Robin asked during one of the rounds.

Alice took her hand and touched the window. It whirred.

"Blood magic. You can't?"

Alice shook her head. "I'm sorry, Alice. But you know what? You have me. And I will gladly come and play cards with you whenever she's gone."

Robin sighed internaly. It was going to be harder to get Alice away from here than she'd planned. They finished a few more rounds, Robin gathered her things then left. She saw gothel enter the tower and heard her ordering Alice around.

Alice sat in the kitchen. She'd not done anything this time. Well, she'd spent the day with Robin but mother couldn't possibly know that. Nothing she did was ever...what was the word Robin used? Good? Nothing she ever did was good. She followed nearly all of the rules. Why was mother yelling at her this time?

An apology couldn't hurt.

"Sorry."

Gothel glared at the girl. "You don't even know what you're saying sorry for!" Gothel started knocking her vials from where they were. Started to throw anything in reach onto the ground.

"Clean."

Alice stood there for a second. What had she done? Why was her mother angry?

"Did you not hear me? Clean it up. Now."

Alice nodded. She wanted to say no. But she couldn't say no to her, could she?

Gothel watched as the child cleaned up the mess she hadn't made after she had followed every rule. If this child truly was the guardian she wouldn't be able to defeat her any more. And if she wasn't. Well, of course she was Gothel had given the girl every reason to hate her and disobey her and she didn't even try to do either.

Alice finished after an hour or so of cleaning.

And Gothel spent the next week repeatedly destorying the organization of the tower just to make Alice clean up her mess. Alice was exhausted the next time Robin came to visit. And as Gothel had left she'd made a mess in the ktichen and told her to clean there. "If you finish you are to sit in your corner. Nothing else."

Alice nodded. "yes, mother."

Robin walked int the tower.

"Your kitchen doesn't look so great," Robin told her looking at the number of broken vials and shattered glass.

Alice nodded. "Cleaning."

Robin glanced at her. "How did it get this messy?"

"Mother." Alice told her. She didn't. She wouldn't. Robin looked at the mess. Alice barely moved around she couldn't have made this mess. And she was the one that cleaned everything.

"Did she do this on purpose?" Alice nodded. It'd been going on for a week but she couldn't tell Robin that easily.

She could try. Week was just one word. She just had to get it out.

"Week," she whispered.

"She's been doing this for a week?" Alice nodded.

"Can I help?"

Alice shook her head. She knew what help was from when she was younger and learning how to clean the tower. If mother noticed she did it faster than normal she'd be in more trouble than she already was and she was already tired. Robin sat and watched as Alice cleaned. She felt bad sitting there and not helping but Alice didn't want her help,for whatever reason. So she sat and talked to her as she cleaned.

"That sherrif I told you about when we met? He's left me alone lately."

Alice nodded. She reached over to grab the broom and swept up the glass. By the time she finished Robin needed to leave to avoid Gothel catching her.

"I'm sorry we didn't get to play, I'll see you next week," Robin told her. And Robin went and hid in the bushes. She knew Alice had spent a week cleaning up messes and heard Gothel yelling at her for missing one thing or another.

She went back home.

"Mom, please tell me you've found a way to break the blood magic?"

Zelena glanced at Robin. "She's getting worse. She keeps making Alice clean up the same mess over and over again. Alice and I didn't even play a game."

"A few chores never hurt anyone," Zelena told her.

"Mom! She only gets to be even close to a kid when I'm there and is scared to stand up half the time, chores are not the point."

"You're right. Sorry. And yes. We have. But do you think she'll come with us?"

Robin thouht for a moment. "Maybe."

Zelena had every intention of opening her home to the girl but they needed to have a plan.

"Okay, next week we'll try to get her out."

Robin was restless for the next week. Her friend was going to be free. Free of her prison. Free of the woman that treated her so poorly. Robin was ready.

When Gothel had finished yelling Alice nodded and went over to her corner. This place was only getting worse. But Robin made it a little better.

When the day finally rolled around Robin's mom and aunt Regina accompanied on her trek to the tower.

"She might be really scared of you two, mom she hates loud noises. That's her sitting on the windowsill."

Robin climbed up the tower.

"Hey, Alice. If I could get you out of here, would you come with me?" Robin asked.

Alice wasn't sure. Wouldn't mother being angry? She'd be in so much trouble. But she already was. For things she hadn't even done. So why not do something that would give her mother a reason to be angry?

Alice nodded. "Okay, perfect."

Robin gave a wave out the window, causing Alice to flinch. "It's okay, just telling the people down there that you're okay with my plan.

And the Mill's witches combined power broke the blood magic spell. They then added a staircase knowing Alice didn't move often enough to have the phsycial strength it would take to scale down the side of the tower.

Alice climbed down then paused at the bottom of the staircase. She'd never been outside before and it was a lot.

"Hey, Alice. It's okay. I won't let anything hurt you," Robin told her. Alice nodded. She trusted Robin. She glanced at the two women.

"This is my mom, Zelena," Robin told her pointing to one of the women "and my aunt regina." she pointed the other woman. Alice now knew who to look to for what she was and wasn't allowed to do.

"Mom, aunt regina: this is Alice."

Alice stood frozen in her place as she glanced at Zelena. She needed to know where she was and wasn't allowed to go.

"It's okay to move, Alice," Robin told her. Alice shook her head. Robin wasn't someone that could tell her that.

"uhhh, mom I think you need to tell her."

"Alice, it's okay, you can move. Our house is a ways away. And I have no intentions of carrying you."

Zelena's words were on the harsher side of things but Alice did start to walk. It took them a while to get to Robin's house. Alice wasn't used to moving this much or this freely. When they finally got there, Alice was overwhelmed by the size of it. And she glanced around trying to find best place to sit for when she needed to be out of sight. She found a space that looked to be hidden behind a piece of furniture and decided that was the best hiding spot.

Gothel returned to the tower. The girl was missing. She checked the corner where she slept and checked the bathroom. She wouldn't dare! She was gone. The magic on the tower faded. How had she gotten out? She wouldnt get far before she came back begging Gothel for her forgivness with a pitiful apology in the voice of the scared weakling that she was. Gothel would not stand for this level of disobedience. Gothel hadn't broken her well enough. If she was out learning about the world she could easily come back and kill gothel. So gothel packed up her things and went far away. No use staying a sitting duck if the girl actually had any powers.

"Okay, I'm sure everyone's hungry. And Henry should be here soon," Regina said.

Alice sat down next to Robin at the table and waited for more instructions. A person walked through the door.

He sat down next to Alice and flung his hand out towards her. She flinched away from him. "That's a first. I'm Henry. You're a friend of Robin's?" he asked as he retracted his hand

Alice stared at him. Did he want her to talk to him? She barely spoke to Robin and she'd known her a while. She trusted her.

"Henry, this is Alice. She doesn't talk much. She's pretty good at go fish. Do you want to play?"

"Sure," Henry told her.

Robin went and grabbed the cards. She handed the deck to Alice. "You can do it." Alice tried to shuffle the deck but half of the cards fell on the floor. Alice stared at them. Zelena wasn't around to ask.

"It's okay," Robin told her as she walked over to pick them up.

"Sorry," Alice whispered.

"It's okay, Alice. We'll practice when we're sitting on the floor."

Alice nodded. Robin shuffled the deck and dealt them.

It took Henry a minute to realize Alice wasn't going to actually say the words go fish in front of him. But the game was fun. They played a few rounds.

Zelena returned and sat down. Alice looked at her. Did she want her to do something specific?

"Okay, Alice. Whenever you're ready for bed, sleep wherever you find comfortable. And you don't have to ask me if you need to go to the bathroom. It's just down the hall."

Alice nodded and got up. She had needed the bathroom for a while but had been too scared to ask in front of Henry. Alice walked to the bahtroom.

When Alice didn't come back for a while, Robin walked to the bathroom. "Alice? Are you okay?"

Alice nodded, not thinking about the fact Robin couldn't see her. Robin walked in. Alice was sitting on the floor of the bathroom. She hadn't been told she was allowed to leave.

"I'll go get my mom." Robin went and found Zelena.

"Alice, you're allowed to leave the bathroom. You don't have to just sit there." Alice stood up and walked into the hallway. She glanced around trying to decide where she had permission to go. Zelena had said when she was tired to could find a comfortable space. So she went to the corner she had noticed and sat down.

Henry saw where she went and came over peaking behind the furniture. "What are you doing?"

"Sorry," Alice muttered. She thought she had been told this was okay.

"No. I just mean why are you hiding?"

Alice didn't know how to talk to him so met his eyes and shook her head.

Robin came over. "Can I join you?" Alice nodded.

"Alice, I know you're scared but can you come out from there?" Alice shook her head. This was where she had permission to be and she wasn't going to move.

"Henry, go get my mom." Henry went and found Zelena.

"Uhhh, Robin's friend is hiding out in a corner and looks terrafied."

Zelena managed to coak Alice out of the hiding space by giving her permission to come and and Alice got comfortable on the floor.

Robin sat and talked to her. She was even more quiet with the new people being around but they still managed to play a few rounds of a card game.

It took Alice a few weeks to get into a slightly new routine. It was taking time for Alice to unlearn all of the things Gothel had taught her. The smallest excess of noise would set her back and she'd speak even less. But now her and Robin would play games daily, with Henry often joining in.

It took her months before she'd say anything to him but now she'd greet him just as often as she greeted Robin. Neither was really that often but they both tried to encourage her whenever she made an effort to speak or start the conversation.

She was more frightened by Regina and Zelena but she had started to be okay sharing a space with them and not watching their every move as if she was wrong to be near them. Although she often looked to them for permission for things she shouldn't. It had taken a while before she stopped sitting in the bathroom floor just waiting for permission to leave it.

One day, many months after Alice had started living with them she was sitting at the kitchen table when Regina walked in. "Hey," Alice forced out. It was a whisper. But she was still trying to speak to her. She was nervous. She'd never said it to her before at all and Regina hadn't said it first.

"Hi, Alice. That was good. Can I sit with you?" Regina asked her. Alice nodded.

The reaction wasn't scary. Alice let herself breathe in a bit more.

Robin, Zelena, and Henry all entered the room at different times. Everyone ate their breakfast.

"Hey, Alice, do you want to try running today?" Henry offered. He and Robin and been trying to get her more comfortable with moving since she could tired easily after well over a decade of not being allowed to move as much as most people.

Alice nodded but glanced towards Regina and Zelena.

"You don't have to ask us. Have fun," Regina told her.

Alice went outside with Robin and Henry and they ran around in the yard. Alice could only do it for a few minutes before she was exhausted.

"Tired." Alice told them. They went inside and Alice curled up in the corner. It was away from everyone and it made her feel safe enough to sleep. They had put lots pillows and blankets there for her once they realized she wasn't comfortable sleeping in a normal bed. Alice fell asleep in her makeshift fort.

"Hey, Alice," Henry greeted when she woke up. "Was about to make lunch if you want to join me."

Alice nodded but stayed where she was.

"Robin and I are the only ones home, but you really don't have to ask permission to move around here. We won't be mad."

Alice had been living with them for months and not once had anyone yelled at her for anything. Maybe it was okay? Alice got up and walked into the kitchen but sat down immediatly. Walking across the room without asking was terrafying.

"Good job, Alice," Robin praised when she walked in from her own room and saw Alice sitting on the other side of the room than she'd started in.

"Here you go," Henry said sliding each girl a plate of food then sitting down with his own. When they finsihed eating thay played a game. It was just Robin and Henry so Alice had started to use the actual words for go fish.

She fell silent when the door opened. She was in so much trouble.

"Hey," Regina greeted. She noticed that Alice was sitting somewhere different than where she was when they left.

"Good job."

Alice was confused. She knew they had said she was allowed to do this but it still scared her. And it was good? This was okay? This place was so differnt from her tower. And she liked it.

"See, told you they wouldn't be mad," Henry told her. Also do you have any 3s?"

Alice shook her head. She was quiet now that everyone was around.

They finished their game and Alice glanced around the room. She hadn't gotten in trouble for moving earlier. So was it okay now? Nope. She couldn't do it. "Can...I...?" Alice whispered.

"Wherever it is, yes. Just go wherever you want to go," Zelena told her.

Alice stood up and walked where she had wanted to. Slowly she began to feel more confident.

It took time but she was getting there. She'd still flinch away when anyone was loud or moved too fast and she spoke in a whisper. But she could speak around all four of them in actual sentences aout half of the time. And she stopped waiting for permission to walk around the house although sometimes on instinct she'd immediatly sit down if she saw someone else enter the room. She tried to sleep in an actual bed a few times but didn't like it so kept to her makeshift fort in the corner of the living room. Over time she stopped being so scared of the world around her and her childhood remained a painful memory. Eventually, Gothel was found dead in another realm so posed no threat to Alice's saftey or happines.


End file.
